Raiser's Edge

It is a good choice for fundraisers and development, and I believe the most frequently used database for this area. There are better programs for peer-to-peer programs and crowdfunding events, though Raiser's Edge is starting to develop these areas.

Raiser's Edge is great at recording donations and donor information and allows for variety in queries and reporting. It is also great for large databases where new information is constantly updated and queried.

It's a sophisticated and well-built software, with lots of tracking and recording capabilities. All and all, excellent ability to segment. However, the look is outdated, integration is cumbersome depending on what program you want to bring data in. Reporting is not the best, almost any big organization have to pull raw data and manipulate it in a different environment to achieve good Data visualization.

Raisers Edge is outstanding for storing and reporting on constituent data and communications. There are many options for creating methods of tracking by different information included and also for creating personalized tracking methods.

Raiser's Edge works if you are a medium or large size charity and you are well versed in database management. You will need a full-time dedicated Database Manager that really knows Raiser's Edge to maintain your records.
NOTE: Database managers well versed in Raiser's Edge are hard to come by.

Blackbaud's suite of products including Raiser's Edge used to be the best out there and that is no longer the case. They are making it more and more difficult to reconcile using them in any capacity. There are solutions out there that more user-friendly, cheaper, and have better customer support.

The Raisers Edge is well suited for anyone doing fundraising. It keeps things stored neatly and is easy to pull out information when it is needed (provided the information is correct and clean when it goes in). It may not be suited for small or short term fundraising but it does definitely have advantages.

Suited for tracking donors, attributes, interactions, contact information, memberships

• Suited for organizations that can hire a database admin
• Suited for front line fundraising and management of small to medium donor portfolios
• Not very well suited for dynamic reporting, most reports need to be massaged by a database administrator
• Not very user-friendly, not at all plug and play
• Not suitable for quickly reporting performance or AB testing

Raisers Edge was perfect to house a university database. Since there were many different schools, programs, and organizations within the University, our donors wanted to be able to give to specific areas on campus and Raisers Edge made it easy to track donors and their giving across campus. We loved Raisers Edge!

I've been using The Raisers Edge for five years now. The NXT version is vastly improved over RE7. Other than the lack of membership reports through the web version and the load time for some of the data, I have no real complaints with The Raisers Edge. It's been an outstanding CRM tool for our division. Before The Raisers Edge, I used Advance at another institution, and I would rate The Raisers Edge much higher. It's an excellent tool for a collaborative team like ours, where multiple notes and contact reports for individual constituents can be added and reviewed quickly. Perhaps the most significant improvement fro RE7 to NXT is the map feature. When you host a lot of events like we do, location can make or break attendance in a large metropolitan area. The map feature allows up to narrow in on a location most convenient to our alumni. That feature is used daily. I highly recommend The Raisers Edge as a CRM tool for alumni relations and advancement teams.

If your organization can afford Raiser's Edge and other software that communicates with Raiser's Edge, such as Financial Edge and Volunteer Hub, then it is a great investment. Investment in a CRM is essential for any development team as you need a central location to store donor information from gift history to actions to opportunities. Excel just won't cut it!

I love it! There is always a way to get what you want.

If you want to have excellent segmentation in solicitations, or other communications, Raiser's Edge is probably more than capable of providing you with what you need. More often than not, any handicaps are probably from data integrity, rather than the software itself. It doesn't integrate well with solutions for other independent school needs, so that's where I'd hesitate giving a glowing endorsement.

The application focuses on fundraising, move management, events, and interactions. If this is your core business then it will suit you well. Customization is limited though, and you end up using Attributes to fill in gaps.

I would not recommend The Raisers Edge. Please note this review is for Raisers Edge and not RE NXT. I've worked in other non-profits that have used more functional and diverse database management systems. This seems like what most universities always stick with, but it does get the job done at the end of the day. It just takes a while and a lot of training to figure out all the intricacies.

I would recommend that people use The Raisers Edge (RE) as the main depository of information about the organization's constituent base, gifts, pulling queries. I find that the interface is becoming really dated and some features are not user-friendly for fundraisers, but I guess NXT is solving this issue.

For identifying potential high-level donors Raiser’s Edge offers a built-in rating system. There's no need to buy additional tools if you have a small department. These tools can help in the development of major//medium gift portfolios for staff. It can often be hard to learn best practices across different companies, as it is very customizable and unique to each organization.

Compared to other donor relations software, Raiser's Edge is the best I have used. I am happy with the support they provide when having issues, and there is a lot of resources available online, and all necessary data fields are included.

Raisers Edge is great for any data storage. It is not necessarily the best to analyze prospects.

Large non-profits are great clients for this software. Anyone investing in a custom database should consider Raisers Edge (RE) first, as custom databases are only as good as the staff who built it and the likelihood that they won't get a different job. Mid-size organizations who are donor funded more than grant funded should take a good look at this, especially if they can invest in training for a staff person solely dedicated to managing the software. Small organizations, particularly those with a fundraising department of fewer than 10, should look elsewhere at software like Salesforce. Any organization who relies heavily on grant funding or needs to do extensive endowment management/reporting should look for an alternative as Raiser's Edge has never successfully created grant management tools, nor do they have integrated software for this.

I honestly believe that The Raisers Edge (RE) can be used for any organization. It is extremely adaptable as long as you have the staffing to support it.

Raiser's Edge is very well suited for a fundraising organization, especially one in higher ed, like ours. Especially a larger shop with many users where various permission levels are needed.

With large organizations, Raisers Edge may be the only option for one to consider unless you have the ability to have a custom database made for you in the case of higher education institutions and hospitals. Many people have used the product so it's really easy to find answers to questions you have online without having to get in touch with Blackbaud, which can be time-consuming.

The Raisers Edge is well suited for an organization that deals with multiple streams of intake and outtake. It is well suited for organizations that have a large base of people to track. The Raisers Edge is not appropriate for businesses that do not need to organize information in different forms or to manipulate data.

The Raisers Edge is great for basic functionalities such as tracking and looking up information about donors and gifts. It is also great for people who will not need the database for more than basic tracking or do not have time or capacity for an extended training. For a situation that requires more in-depth analysis or for someone who will spend a lot of time with the system on a daily basis, I might recommend looking elsewhere.

The Raisers Edge is a great donor record management database and NXT is an intuitive and attractive edition. NXT is necessary for reminders on major giving prospects and the mobile view is great for donor visits. Raisers is quite costly so for companies looking to spend less there are other alternatives.